The Someone Behind Atalanta's Success In The Champions League

Gian Piero Gasperini is still the most interesting headline in Italian football. The man from the Negri Pizza is the most charming behind the Atalanta flag.

Because of the soaring name of the game holder, making him an honorary citizen of the city of Bergamo. That's thanks to his success in bringing Atalanta to the Copa Italia final last season and leading the club to the European Champions League stage for the first time.

For information, Bergamo is the city where the Atalanta club originated. Gasperini has coached the club nicknamed La Dea for four seasons. After in the previous two seasons he succeeded in bringing Papu Gomez and his colleagues to the Europa League, this time he succeeded in bringing the highest achievement in the club's history, namely the Champions League.

Therefore, to appreciate his services, the city council of Bergamo also gave the title as an honorary citizen. This is the highest honor given by the city council to its citizens.

"It's a great honor and I'm very proud. Receiving this recognition is a continuation of the bonds already formed with the city of Bergamo, its people and of course the Atalanta fans. "

“I think this award is something that goes beyond results in sport. This is a very important gift and from today on I have even more responsibility. Not only in football, but also in my personal life as a man, "said Gasperini (via football-italia)

The status as an honorary citizen of the city of Bergamo given to the 61-year-old coach is quite interesting. Because he is not a native of Bergamo, but Turin.

Gasperini deserves to be called the most instrumental coach in Atalanta history. One ticket to the European Champions League competition is clearly the reason. Moreover, Atalanta under his tutelage was able to bombard the "European giants", AC Milan, with a very heavy score.

Gian Piero Gasperini, who came to Atalanta in 2016, is a nobody. He is just a former coach of the mediocre team, Genoa. But make no mistake, his performance at Genoa back then seemed to be a sign that his eyes would always be on extraordinary things.

At that time, in the 2014/15 season, Gian Piero Gasperini managed to bring Genoa to 6th place in the final standings. That season was the best for him when he handled Atalanta, after several other seasons only stuck in 10th position in the final standings. In 2014/15, Gasperini has arguably made the transfer very effective.

The front line of the season underwent a significant overhaul, almost all of their forwards in the previous season did not strengthen Genoa anymore. Giuseppe Sculli, Emmanuele Calaio and Moussa Konate returned from their loan spells at their respective clubs. Meanwhile, Antonio Floro Flores and Alberto Gilardino were sold to other clubs.

At that time, Gasperini moved quickly by bringing in two important players, namely Alessandro Matri and Mauricio Pinilla. These two players have contributed greatly in lifting Genoa's performance.

Then, Diego Perotti's transfer from Sevilla was quite appropriate. The player can complete Genoa's attacking side in his favorite 3-4-3 formation. The loan of Facundo Roncaglia from Fiorentina is also not to be forgotten, the Argentine is the mainstay of Gasperini in the formation of three defensive defenders. Together with Sebastian Di Maio and Nicolas Burdisso they managed to make a solid defense in front of Mattia Perin.

Apart from transfer problems, the application of various game variations such as 3-5-1-1, 4-5-1, and 3-4-2-1, is also considered very brilliant.

What is no less important is of course about the consistency of the game. The game pattern applied by Gasperini is always balanced. The players get their own portion, so they can create maximum opportunities.

Even though his CV had a bad period at Inter Milan, Gasperini was not broken. When Atalanta pulled him from Genoa, he tried to take advantage of existing players. He was officially appointed as Atalanta's main coach on June 14, 2016.

However, Atalanta is not Genoa or Inter. It was neither Palermo who brought Gasperini to the brink of relegation in the 2012/13 season. Together with Gasperini, Atalanta was transformed into a force to be feared in the Italian League.

However, his first season did not go smoothly. Of the four initial matches of the 2016/17 Serie A, Atalanta always lost. Rumors of premature dismissal were blowing. Gasperini feared the incident at Inter would repeat itself.

However, Gasperini is grateful to have a club boss like Antonio Percassi. Percassi told Atalanta players that he still believed in Gasperini.

That belief actually makes Gasperini more confident in training. The players believed in Gasperini's abilities even more. In the 2016/17 season, Atalata got his first victory when they visited Crotone headquarters.

Despite the red card received by Franck Kessie in the 62nd minute, Atalanta was able to beat the hosts 3-1 through goals scored by Andrea Petagna, Jasmin Kurtic and Alejandro Dario Gomez. After the result against Crotone, Atalanta recorded eight wins and one draw in the next nine matches.

Atalanta's performance continued to climb, even though there were also defeats. Atalanta then ended the 2016/17 season finishing in 4th place. The following seasons were not too smooth for Gasperini and Atalanta. Even so, they still managed to finish in 7th place at the end of the season.

In the 2018/19 season, that history arrived. Atalanta managed to make history into the Champions League for the first time since the club was founded in 1907. Atalanta won 3-1 over Sassuolo in the final match of the 2018/19 Serie A. They also ended the season by finishing in 3rd place and automatically qualifying for the 2019/20 Champions League.

One thing that should not be forgotten is that Gasperini has become a coach who is able to maximize his young talents. The names that eventually became stars of course, Mattia Caldara, Andrea Conti, Roberto Gagliardini, Leonardo Spinazzola, and Andrea Petagna.

Therefore it is not surprising that the players were then bought by other teams, including Gagliardini and Alessandro Bastoni who were bought by Inter, or Franck Kessie and Conti who were brought by AC Milan.

Thanks to the sale of academy players, Atalanta finally had sufficient funds to buy the Atleti Azzuri dʻItalia stadium in mid-2017.

According to data taken from italianfootballTV, Atalanta only purchased players worth 6.7 million euros, or the equivalent of 104 billion rupiah, and managed to get compensation of up to 180 million euros, equivalent to 2.8 trillion rupiah.

This season, Gasperini's genius at Atalanta still continues. The match against Udinese in the 9th giornata of Serie A 2019/20 is proof that they are still on a roll. Competing at the Gewiss Stadium, in October 2019, Atalanta beat Udinese with a landslide score, 7-1.

The victory repeated Atalanta's achievements in June 1952 when they won by the same score against Triestina.

Once again, don't forget the big win against AC Milan.

In the Champions League competition itself, Atalanta was surprisingly able to become one of the teams that qualified for the group phase. Behind the success of the club from Bergamo, of course, there is the figure of Gian Piero Gasperini. He has really become an important part of La Dea's fleet, when he made history during the 112 years this club was founded.

Atalanta won in the last Group C match of the 2019/20 Champions League, at the Shakhtar Donetsk meeting. Visiting OSK Metalist Stadion, Shakhtar headquarters, Josip Ilicic cs successfully crushed the host 3-0, in December 2019.

Atalanta's three winning goals were scored each by Timothy Castagne, Mario Pasalic and Robin Gosens. Thanks to these results, Atalanta has the right to hold one ticket to the first knockout phase.

Indeed, no one would have thought that a team like Atalanta would be able to make history in the elite competition of the Blue Continent. Moreover, they even won the competition with Dinamo Zagreb or Shakhtar, who in fact already have experience appearing in this event.

Gasperini also admitted that he could not be calm when Gosens scored Atalanta's third goal. But for him, in a match sometimes there will be destiny created. Gasperini dedicates this success to the city of Bergamo, the fans and of course Italian football.

“To be honest, I didn't feel calm until the third goal was scored. It's a tough match. But sometimes, there is a destiny, "

“We are very happy to do this, for the city of Bergamo, for the fans, and for Italian football. We show that our style of play can be successful in Europe. We believe we have a chance to make history. You just need to take this opportunity, and we do it in the best way, "he said (via football-italia)

For all the success that has been achieved, Atalanta deserves to patent Gasperini's name as a legend.

Atalanta striker and captain, Alejandro Gomez, even knows very well that without the cold hands of their coach, Gian Piero Gasperini, this kind of situation would not have happened. Gasperini not only played a crucial role in formulating tactics, but also in boosting the mentality of the players.

In Gasperini's concoction, Gomez acts as an attack creator. He is not the player who scores the most goals, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have a crucial role. The leadership, playing style, and key passes that he creates, are clearly one of the reasons why Atalanta appear so superior.

Overall, Gasperini's aggressiveness and flexibility is favored by Gomez. Not only because it suits his playing character, but also because Gasperini never puts excessive burdens on his players, including the names of seniors.

Now, we just have to wait, where is the struggle and proof of the quality of Atalanta's players, under the direction of Gian Piero Gasperini.